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A substudy of the large prospective National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) Breast Cancer Prevention Trial revealed both expected and surprising findings related to the association between lifestyle factors (cigarette smoking, alcohol, and exercise) and cancer risk. As might be...
A retrospective review of 104 consecutive patients with large colorectal lesions, including 39 with carcinoma, found that “endoscopic excision of large colorectal polyps is a viable alternative to surgical resection in a select group of patients and can be performed safely with a good success...
The risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) may be nearly twice as high for patients undergoing open colorectal procedures as for those undergoing laparoscopic colorectal resections, according to a report in the Archives of Surgery. The authors also “identified malignancy, obesity, and...
Obese patients appear to have a significantly increased risk of developing a surgical site infection after segmental or total colectomy for colon cancer, diverticulitis, or inflammatory bowel disease, and the presence of infection increases the cost associated with the procedure, according to a...
Hepatic resection was shown to be superior to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of colorectal liver metastases, according to a model used to stimulate a randomized controlled trial. Researchers from the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Program at the Providence Portland Medical...
"Hot chemotherapy” has become the common term for hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), which together with cytoreductive surgery is being used by some surgeons to treat patients with carcinomatosis from colorectal cancer. While HIPEC is not considered the most important component of...
Colorectal cancer studies reported at this year’s ASCO meeting offered little in the way of practice-changing information, according to Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. But they did confirm existing standards of care, he noted at the Best of ASCO® meeting in Seattle....
Two years ago, I was feeling fine except for a nagging problem with severe constipation. I believed this was caused by some loperamide I had taken to quell the episodes of diarrhea I experienced following dinner at a local barbecue restaurant. When the symptoms persisted for a couple of months, I...
The need to restrict treatment with panitumumab (Vectibix) to metastatic colorectal cancer patients with wild-type (normal) KRAS tumors was upheld in a study presented at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress (EMCC). The investigation found a consistent lack of benefit for the drug...
The addition of oxaliplatin to fluorouracil (5-FU) plus leucovorin improved overall survival in patients younger than 70 years old participating in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) C-07 trial. Patients eligible for the trial had either stage II or III colon cancer and ...
A study to investigate the most appropriate age for initial screening colonoscopy to improve detection of adenomas, advanced adenomas, and colorectal cancer, and lower colorectal cancer mortality found that the most appropriate age might be different for men and women. “In our study, analysis of...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used after neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer to predict survival outcomes for good and poor responders and offer patients additional treatment options before definitive surgery, according to a study conducted at 11 specialist colorectal cancer units in...
Encouraging outcomes have been achieved with a combined-modality treatment approach for patients with locally recurrent colorectal cancer in both curative and palliative settings, although room for improvement remains. During a session presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology...
The novel fusion protein aflibercept added to standard chemotherapy led to an overall survival benefit in a global phase III trial of second-line metastatic colorectal cancer, reported at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.1 “Adding aflibercept to FOLFIRI [leucovorin,...
Nearly 16,000 people from 16 countries attended this year’s European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held recently in Stockholm. The ASCO Post has featured several key reports from the meeting and will offer further coverage in upcoming issues. Additional noteworthy studies presented at the...
Despite a strong family history of colon cancer—all five of my mother’s siblings had colon cancer, and my mother died of the disease 10 years ago—when some flecks of blood started showing up on my toilet tissue in early 2005, I figured it was from hemorrhoids. At 38, I was a marathon runner and in...
Supplementing the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM classification system with additional information available from tumor registries can assist in personalizing treatment and follow-up care for patients with colon cancer, according to a collaborative study by investigators at Memorial...
Research in cancer staging, surgical procedures, outcomes, and medical treatment was included among the 2,000 abstracts presented at the 97th Annual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Francisco. The ASCO Post was there to capture the latest findings. Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in...
Vermaat and colleagues from the University Medical Center Utrecht, Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Hoffman-La-Roche Inc./Genentech, Nutley, New Jersey, recently showed that there was significant genetic variation between individual primary colorectal cancer tumors and their...
The survival advantage conferred by adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil (5-FU), as previously shown in randomized controlled trials, extends to patients in the general population, including older and minority group patients and those with higher comorbidity. These results, ...
A developer of endoscopy products based in New York and Kissing, Germany, invendo medical, announced that the company received 510(k) clearance by the FDA of the company’s new C20 colonoscopy system, including the SC20 single-use colonoscope. The invendoscope SC20 has several features that are...
The survival advantage conferred by adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant chemotherapy with fluorouracil (5-FU) in stage III colon cancer, as previously shown in patients in randomized controlled trials, extends to patients in the general population, including older and minority group patients and those...
When I found a large amount of blood on my toilet tissue just before Thanksgiving in 2010, I wasn’t too concerned. At just 45 years old, I was in excellent health, and other than the bloody stool I had no other symptoms signaling that something was seriously wrong. My primary care physician thought ...
Adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to adjuvant treatment with mFOLFOX6, the modified sixth version of FOLFOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin) did not improve disease-free survival among patients with resected stage III colon cancer, even those with wild-type KRAS, according to a phase III study in...
For me, getting a cancer diagnosis has been more annoying than frightening. Mainly, I’m annoyed at myself for not taking care of an anal skin tag sooner. (I’d had it since birth.) The growth hadn’t been a problem until I got pregnant with my first child and it became temporarily engorged with...
Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, told The ASCO Post that he finds the data “intriguing” and that the study exemplifies the value of developing molecular signatures for use in colon cancer. “It identifies patients with an excellent prognosis, who perhaps should not be...
ColoPrint, an 18-gene expression profile assay for patients with early-stage colon cancer, accurately stratifies patients by recurrence risk and identifies a subset who can be adequately treated by surgery alone, investigators reported at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 According to...
The results of the CORRECT trial created some degree of “buzz” at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, with experts predicting that regorafenib will become FDA-approved and have strong clinical utility. While numerically, the benefit appeared small, “There is a real difference with this...
The novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor regorafenib, given as a single agent to patients with treatment-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, significantly improved overall survival and delayed disease progression in an international phase III trial presented at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers...
Recent studies have shown that interleukin-8 (IL-8) and its receptors CXCR1 and CXCR2 are significantly upregulated in colorectal cancer tumors and their microenvironment and act as regulators of proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Ning and colleagues from the University of Southern...
Three new studies have added data to the growing evidence that low-dose, daily aspirin helps prevent colorectal cancer and other malignancies and may be useful in preventing metastases as well.1-3 Coming on the heels of other recent studies, the results appear to strengthen the case for using...
Bayer HealthCare announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA seeking approval for the oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The submission is based on the results of the pivotal, global phase III CORRECT...
Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, recently announced that the FDA has granted Priority Review of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for the investigational agent aflibercept (Zaltrap) concentrate for solution for infusion in combination with irinotecan/fluoropyrimidine–based...
Over the past 2 decades, we have seen a substantial increase in the 5-year survival of patients with stage II and III colon cancer, marking an evolving oncologic success story. However, in the postoperative setting, the value of regular CT screening to monitor for recurrence has been greeted with...
Because few people over 75 participate in clinical trials, it is unknown whether adjuvant chemotherapy could benefit this population. Faced with this gap in clinical trial evidence, researchers reviewed data from 5,489 patients ≥ 75 years with stage III colon cancer. The review suggests that...
Oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine–based adjuvant therapy is of benefit in patients with resected stage II/III colon cancer, but the ability to predict risk of toxicity could improve care by permitting individualization of treatment. Ana Custodio, MD, and colleagues from GEMCAD (Grupo Español...
Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced that the FDA has granted priority review designation to Bayer HealthCare’s New Drug Application (NDA) filed end of April 2012 for the oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib, for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer whose...
The FDA has granted approval to cetuximab (Erbitux) for use in combination with FOLFIRI (irinotecan, fluorouracil, leucovorin) for first-line treatment of patients with KRAS mutation–negative (wild-type), EGFR-expressing metastatic colorectal cancer as determined by FDA-approved tests for this use. ...
A survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy has been reported for select elderly patients with stage III colon cancer, but many elderly patients are not candidates for or are not given adjuvant therapy due to comorbidities and fear of toxicity. In a recent Annals of Oncology article, van...
In a study highlighted at a press briefing during the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting, German investigators reported that prolonging treatment with bevacizumab (Avastin) beyond disease progression extends overall survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.1 Patients received bevacizumab plus...
The FDA has approved sodium picosulfate, magnesium oxide, and citric acid (Prepopik) to help cleanse the colon in adults preparing for colonoscopy, Ferring Pharmaceuticals announced. The new solution is a low-volume, dual-acting stimulant and osmotic laxative. The FDA approval is based on data from ...
The FDA has approved ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap) for use in combination with a FOLFIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil, irinotecan) chemotherapy regimen to treat adults with colorectal cancer. Ziv-aflibercept is an angiogenesis inhibitor that inhibits the blood supply to tumors. It is intended for patients ...
Patients with surgically unresectable metastatic colon cancer and an asymptomatic intact primary tumor can be spared initial noncurative resection of their intact primary tumor, National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) C-10 trial investigators reported in the Journal of Clinical...
Escalating the dose of cetuximab (Erbitux) among patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who developed no or mild skin reactions on standard-dose cetuximab plus irinotecan “seemed to lead to an increase in response rate” as well as in the disease-control rate, according to a phase I/II study...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication In July 2012, cetuximab (Erbitux) was approved for use...
Key colorectal cancer studies presented at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting are changing the treatment landscape in this disease, according to Michael Overman, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who reviewed the data at the Best of ASCO San Diego meeting. The mix included...
The FDA recently approved regorafenib (Stivarga) to treat patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed after treatment. Regorafenib is a multikinase inhibitor that blocks several enzymes that promote cancer growth. The drug was reviewed under the FDA’s priority review program that ...
Patients who have had colorectal cancer and who are carriers of the DNA mismatch repair gene mutations that cause Lynch syndrome “have an increased risk of a greater range of cancers than the recognized spectrum of Lynch syndrome cancers, including breast and prostate cancers,” according to a study ...
Oncologists generally agree that screening patients with colorectal cancer for Lynch syndrome is a good thing. Patients who turn out to have the hereditary syndrome can inform their first-degree relatives, who in turn can undergo genetic testing. Those who have the characteristic mutations can take ...
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Patients who have received standard...